title: Observation of nitrogen vacancy photoluminescence from an optically levitated nanodiamond.
abstract: We present what we believe to be the first evidence of nitrogen vacancy (NV) photoluminescence (PL) from a nanodiamond suspended in a free-space optical dipole trap at atmospheric pressure. The PL rates are shown to decrease with increasing trap laser power, but are inconsistent with a thermal quenching process. For a continuous-wave trap, the neutral charge state (NV(0)) appears to be suppressed. Chopping the trap laser yields higher total count rates and results in a mixture of both NV(0) and the negative charge state (NV(-).
authors.forename: Levi P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Neukirch
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gieseler
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quidant
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Novotny
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nick Vamivakas